This is the Lexus LFA GTE which was originally developed to compete in the 2012 WEC season.

This is the Lexus LFA GTE which was originally developed to compete in the 2012 WEC season.

Toyota Motorsport GmbH had plans to race a GTE car and a LMP1 vehicle that year, but while the TS030 participated at 24 Hours of Le Mans, the GTE was never officially revealed.

The reason why Toyota pulled the plug on the LFA GTE has to do with logistics since they didn't want to have two programs running at the same time, especially when they were preparing for a Le Mans return. However, they did test the car in May 2011 in Valencia after spending some time in the wind tunnel.

At one point they wanted to race the car in the VLN series for customer teams at the Nürburgring 24 Hours. Various setups were developed for the car, including one for sprint racing in the FIA GT Championship. Powering the LFA was a V10 rated at 475 HP (349 kW) and 560 Nm (413 lb-ft) of torque at 9,000 rpm put to the ground via a six-speed gearbox geared to 186 mph (300 km/h).

Even though it was canned, some of the knowledge acquired during development was put to good use in the Gazoo Racing Lexus LFA which took class victories at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.